GATES: I'M HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.
WELCOME TO "FINDING YOUR ROOTS".
IN THIS EPISODE, WE'LL EXPLORE THE FAMILY TREES OF MUSICIAN PHARRELL WILLIAMS AND ACTOR-DIRECTOR KASI LEMMONS.
EACH WILL SEE THEIR ANCESTORS' STORIES BROUGHT TO LIFE IN A WAY THAT MOST AFRICAN AMERICANS CAN ONLY DREAM OF.
WILLIAMS: I'M BUZZING.
LIKE, MY ARMS, MY BODY IS BUZZING.
LIKE, WHOA!
LEMMONS: IN SOME WAYS YOU'RE PINING FOR SOMETHING AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS.
IT'S NOT JUST INFORMATION, YOU KNOW.
GATES: YEAH.
LEMMONS: THERE'S SOMETHING REASSURING ABOUT IT, THERE'S SOMETHING WEIRDLY LIFE-AFFIRMING ABOUT IT.
GATES: TO UNCOVER THEIR ROOTS, WE'VE USED EVERY TOOL AVAILABLE.
GENEALOGISTS COMBED THROUGH THE PAPER TRAIL THEIR ANCESTORS LEFT BEHIND.
WHILE DNA EXPERTS UTILIZED THE LATEST ADVANCES IN GENETIC ANALYSIS TO REVEAL SECRETS HUNDREDS OF YEARS OLD.
AND WE'VE COMPILED EVERYTHING INTO A BOOK OF LIFE.
LEMMONS: OH WOW!
GATES: A RECORD OF ALL OUR DISCOVERIES.
WILLIAMS: THOSE WORDS, MAN.
I FELT THOSE WORDS WHEN I READ THEM.
GATES: AND A WINDOW INTO THE HIDDEN PAST.
LEMMONS: WE JUST WENT BACK TO AFRICA, THAT'S SO INTERESTING.
WILLIAMS: THIS IS WORTH MORE THAN ANYTHING.
THIS IS PRICELESS.
GATES: LIKE SO MANY AFRICAN AMERICANS, PHARRELL AND KASI GREW UP WONDERING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCES OF THEIR ENSLAVED ANCESTORS.
IN THIS EPISODE, THEY'LL HEAR STORIES THAT MOST BLACK AMERICANS CAN NEVER HEAR, STORIES THAT REVEAL EXACTLY HOW SLAVERY SHAPED THEIR LINEAGE AND HOW THEIR FAMILIES EMERGED FROM THAT ORDEAL UNBROKEN AND INTACT, UPENDING THEIR PRECONCEPTIONS AND INSPIRING THEM TO SEE THEMSELVES IN ENTIRELY NEW WAYS.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYS) ♪ ♪ CROWD: PHARRELL!
WOMAN: CAN I HAVE YOUR PICTURE, PLEASE?
WILLIAMS: LET'S JUST TAKE A BUNCH OF SELFIE'S.
GATES: PHARRELL WILLIAMS IS CONSTANTLY ON THE MOVE IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD, WILLIAMS: SORRY, I GOTTA GO GUYS.
GATES: THE SINGER, SONGWRITER, PRODUCER AND ALL-AROUND MUSICAL GENIUS HAS CRAFTED HITS IN A DIZZYING ARRAY OF GENRES, FROM R&B TO HIP HOP FROM SOUL TO STRAIGHT UP POP.
HE'S GOT A SOUND AND A STYLE THAT HAVE BEEN EMBRACED ACROSS THE GLOBE.
♪ WILLIAMS: SHE'S UP ALL NIGHT TO THE SUN.
♪ ♪ I'M UP ALL NIGHT TO GET SOME.
♪ ♪ GATES: BUT HE TRACES IT ALL BACK TO A VERY MODEST PLACE, HIS CHILDHOOD HOME IN VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA, WHERE HE MADE MUSIC OUT OF ANYTHING HE COULD GET HIS HANDS ON.
WILLIAMS: I JUST WAS ALWAYS, TAKING THE WHISKS AND THE SPATULAS AND WHATEVER I COULD USE TO MAKE DRUM SOUNDS.
SOMETIMES FLYSWATTERS, BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS, LIKE, THIS IS WHAT YOU DID.
IT WAS, LIKE, FUN, YOU KNOW?
SO THERE WAS A SONG THAT I LIKE, I WOULD PLAY ALONG AND SING ALONG TO IT, NOT VERY GOOD, BUT YOU KNOW, WHEN I GET ASKED THESE QUESTIONS, THEN I REALIZE, OH, THERE WAS, THERE WAS SOMETHING THERE.
GATES: PHARRELL MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN IT, BUT EVEN AS A KID, HE WAS BUILDING HIS CAREER.
HE MET HIS PRODUCING PARTNER, CHAD HUGO, WHEN THEY WERE IN SEVENTH GRADE, BEFORE THEY WERE EVEN 20 YEARS OLD, THEY'D FORMED A GROUP CALLED THE NEPTUNES, WON A TALENT SHOW, AND SIGNED A RECORD DEAL, THEIR ALMOST-INSTANT SUCCESS TOOK THEM BOTH BY SURPRISE AND LEFT PHARRELL'S PARENTS POSITIVELY DUMBSTRUCK.
WILLIAMS: I DON'T THINK MY MOM AND DAD REALLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT IT WAS.
BECAUSE IT'S LIKE, OKAY, COOL, WHAT IS THIS?
WHAT ARE YOU, OKAY.
NOW WHAT?
GATES: YEAH.
"YOU DID WHAT?"
WILLIAMS: AND THEY WEREN'T DISMISSIVE OF IT, I JUST DON'T THINK THEY UNDERSTOOD, BECAUSE I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND, RIGHT?
I DIDN'T HAVE A PLAN, IT'S JUST THAT CHASING SOMETHING THAT I LOVED AND DOING SOMETHING THAT I LOVED JUST SORT OF LED ME DOWN THIS ROAD THAT SORT OF GOT ME HERE NOW.
GATES: LIFE HAD A PLAN FOR YOU.
WILLIAMS: LIFE HAD A PLAN, BUT I DID NOT.
GATES: THE ABSENCE OF A "PLAN," WOULDN'T LIMIT PHARRELL IN THE SLIGHTEST.
BY THE EARLY 2000s, HE WAS A MAJOR FORCE IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY.
PERFORMING HIS OWN SONGS AND PRODUCING FOR AN EXTRAORDINARILY DIVERSE GROUP OF ARTISTS.
THEN, IN 2013, HE COLLABORATED ON THE SOUNDTRACK FOR "DESPICABLE ME 2" IN WHICH HE WROTE "HAPPY" AN INFECTIOUS, GENRE-BLENDING MASTERPIECE.
"HAPPY" QUICKLY BECAME A PHENOMENON, ONE OF THE BEST-SELLING SINGLES OF ALL-TIME, TOPPING THE CHARTS IN MORE THAN 20 COUNTRIES.
♪ GROUP: CAUSE I'M HAPPY.
♪ ♪ WILLIAMS: CLAP ALONG IF YOU FEEL LIKE A ROOM ♪ ♪ IT MADE ME EMOTIONAL.
I SAW THAT MONTAGE OF, LIKE, PEOPLE SINGING IT AROUND THE WORLD, AND I WAS LIKE, WHOA, MAN, I'M JUST, LIKE, A MUSIC PRODUCER.
LIKE, I WAS LIKE, GOD, WHY ME?
GATES: HOW DID THAT SONG, DID THAT SONG CHANGE YOUR LIFE?
WILLIAMS: YEAH.
GATES: IT'S IMPOSSIBLE FOR IT NOT TO HAVE CHANGED YOUR LIFE.
WILLIAMS: 100%.
IT MADE ME LOOK AT A LOT OF THINGS VERY DIFFERENTLY, BECAUSE I SAW, LIKE, I SAW HOW MUSIC COULD MAKE PEOPLE FEEL JOY BEYOND.
GATES: IT MADE ME FEEL JOY.
WILLIAMS: I, I, AND I'M SO HUMBLED BY THAT.
GATES: AND IT SHOWS HOW FUNDAMENTALLY HUMAN WE ARE, HOW YOU CAN SPEAK TO THE HUMAN SOUL BEYOND LANGUAGE.
WILLIAMS: YEAH.
GATES: RACE, ETHNICITY, IF YOU FIND THE RIGHT MESSAGE, YOU KNOW, IF YOU FIND A WAY IN, AND YOU DID THAT.
WILLIAMS: I, THE UNIVERSE USED ME.
THAT'S ALL I CAN SAY.
I WAS USED.
GATES: MY SECOND GUEST IS ACTOR, WRITER, AND DIRECTOR KASI LEMONS, FAMED FOR HER OSCAR-NOMINATED "HARRIET" THE FIRST FEATURE FILM EVER MADE ABOUT THE LEGENDARY ABOLITIONIST HARRIET TUBMAN.
AS ONE OF ONLY A HANDFUL OF BLACK WOMAN DIRECTORS IN HOLLYWOOD, KASI HAS SUCCEEDED AGAINST TREMENDOUS ODDS AND, IN A SENSE, SHE'S BEEN PREPARING TO BEAT THOSE ODDS HER ENTIRE LIFE.
KASI WAS BORN IN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, BUT HER PARENTS DIVORCED WHEN SHE WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD, THEN HER MOTHER TOOK HER TO THE NORTHEAST AND SETTLED IN NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A MIDDLE CLASS SUBURB OF BOSTON, SUDDENLY, YOUNG KASI FOUND HERSELF AN OUTSIDER, SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF HER SKIN.
LEMMONS: I NEVER REMEMBER THINKING OR TALKING ABOUT RACE WHEN I WAS A KID.
EVERYBODY THAT I KNEW, FROM VERY LIGHT-SKINNED PEOPLE TO VERY DARK-SKINNED PEOPLE WERE ALL COLORED PEOPLE OR BLACK PEOPLE TO ME.
GATES: RIGHT.
LEMMONS: AND I NEVER REALLY HAD TO THINK ABOUT RACISM.
WHEN I MOVED TO NEWTON, I WAS THE ONLY BLACK GIRL IN MY SCHOOL, AND I HEARD ABOUT THAT EVERY DAY.
GATES: KASI TOLD ME THAT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN NEWTON WAS A KIND OF HELL, A PLACE WHERE SHE SUFFERED HUMILIATIONS BOTH LARGE AND SMALL.
FORTUNATELY, SHE HAD AN ALLY AND AN ANCHOR: HER MOTHER.
HOW DO YOU RECOVER FROM THAT?
LEMMONS: YOU KNOW, SKIP, IT'S LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE.
IT BECOMES PART OF YOUR STORY AND YOU END UP BEING PROUD OF IT.
YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?
IT ENDS UP INFORMING YOUR CHARACTER AND YOU'RE LIKE, OKAY, WELL I SURVIVED THAT AND I'M TOUGH IN A WAY BECAUSE OF WHO I WAS IN THIRD GRADE AND WHAT I HAD TO GO THROUGH AND OF COURSE WHO MY MOTHER WAS.
GATES: RIGHT.
LEMMONS: BECAUSE I WOULD COME CRYING TO MY MOTHER AND SAY I CAN'T GO BACK TO THAT SCHOOL AND SHE WOULD GO CIVIL RIGHTS ON ME.
IT'S LIKE THERE'S BLOOD ON THE SEATS.
NO, YOU WILL MARCH ME BACK, WHIMPERING TOO, YOU KNOW, AND STAND IN FRONT OF THE PRINCIPAL AND TELL HIM OFF.
GATES: SO YOUR MOM WENT BLACK ON HIM?
LEMMONS: OH, IN A SPLIT SECOND.
GATES: OH, THAT'S GREAT.
LEMMONS: OH YEAH, IN A SPLIT SECOND.
GATES: SO YOU HAD A WARRIOR, PROTECTOR.
LEMMONS: YEAH.
IT WAS HUGELY EMBARRASSING.
AT A CERTAIN POINT IN MY LIFE I'M LIKE OH, GOD, MOM, DON'T DO IT AGAIN.
GATES: KASI'S MOTHER DID MUCH MORE THAN STICK UP FOR HER IN THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE.
SHE ENCOURAGED KASI TO PURSUE HER OWN INTERESTS, AND LET HER TAKE ACTING CLASSES, SETTING HER ON THE PATH SHE'S FOLLOWING TODAY, AND GIVING HER THE CONFIDENCE TO TELL THE STORIES SHE WANTS TO TELL, REGARDLESS OF WHAT ANYONE, WHITE OR BLACK, MIGHT THINK.
GATES: DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE TO REPRESENT?
DO YOU FEEL THAT THERE'S A BOARD OF BLACK CENSORSHIP SOMEWHERE THAT'S GOING TO KICK YOUR BEHIND IF YOU TELL TOO MUCH TRUTH ABOUT THE BLACK EXPERIENCE?
LEMMONS: THERE'S ALL KINDS OF THINGS THESE DAYS IN SOCIAL MEDIA, BUT I DON'T FEEL, I CAN'T BE BEHOLDEN TO THAT BECAUSE THAT WOULD CRUSH ART, RIGHT?
GATES: YES.
LEMMONS: I MEAN YOU CAN'T CREATE LIKE THAT.
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE, SO I DON'T KEEP THAT CENSORSHIP BOARD ON MY SHOULDER.
GATES: RIGHT.
LEMMONS: I JUST HAVE TO DO ME, AND I'M INTERESTED IN THE GRAY AREA OF HUMANITY.
I'M INTERESTED IN CHARACTERS THAT ARE HUMAN BEINGS AND THAT MAKE MISTAKES, SOMETIMES TERRIBLE MISTAKES.
GATES: HUMAN BEINGS WHO HAPPEN TO BE BLACK.
LEMMONS: WHO HAPPEN TO BE BLACK.
GATES: THAT'S WHAT ART'S ABOUT.
LEMMONS: YEAH.
GATES: KASI AND PHARRELL BOTH CAME TO ME FEELING DEEPLY CONNECTED TO THEIR AFRICAN AMERICAN ROOTS, YET CRAVING SPECIFIC DETAILS ABOUT THOSE ROOTS.
LIKE SO MANY OF US, BOTH HAVE VERY LIMITED KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE ANCESTORS ON THEIR FAMILY TREES.
EACH KNEW LITTLE BEYOND THEIR GRANDPARENTS, AND NOTHING ABOUT THEIR ANCESTORS WHO ENDURED SLAVERY.
ALL OF THAT WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE.
I STARTED WITH PHARRELL, AND HIS FATHER'S PARENTS, CARRIE AND PHAROAH WILLIAMS.
PHARRELL SPENT A GREAT DEAL OF TIME WITH THEM WHEN HE WAS A CHILD, AND KNEW THAT THEY WERE BOTH BORN IN NASH COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, BUT BEYOND THAT, THEIR PAST WAS SHROUDED IN MYSTERY.
WHAT STORIES DID YOU HEAR ABOUT YOUR GRANDPARENTS' LIVES BACK IN NASH COUNTY?
WOULD THEY SIT AROUND TALKING ABOUT LIFE IN THE BAD OLD DAYS OR THE GOOD OLD DAYS IN CAROLINA?
WILLIAMS: NO.
I DIDN'T HEAR MUCH ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA.
GATES: WELL, LET'S SEE WHAT WE FOUND.
COULD YOU PLEASE TURN THE PAGE?
WILLIAMS: OKAY.
THIS IS CRAZY.
GATES: THIS IS A DOCUMENT DATED MAY 17TH, 1947.
WOULD YOU PLEASE READ THE TRANSCRIBED SECTION?
WILLIAMS: "STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, NASH COUNTY.
LICENSE FOR THE MARRIAGE OF PHAROAH WILLIAMS OF NASH COUNTY, AGE 22, COLORED, AND CAROL LEE SEARS, AGE 18, COLORED."
WHOA.
GATES: WHAT'S IT LIKE TO SEE THAT?
WILLIAMS: I'M BUZZING.
LIKE, MY ARMS, MY BODY IS BUZZING.
LIKE, WHOA!
GATES: THAT'S YOUR GRANDPARENTS.
IT'S A GLIMPSE OF YOUR GRANDPARENTS AS YOUNG KIDS.
WILLIAMS: WOW.
I'M SEEING HIS HANDWRITING.
GATES: YEAH.
WILLIAMS: WHOA.
GATES: THIS RECORD WOULD LAUNCH US ON THE PATH TOWARDS A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY, TRACING BACK TWO GENERATIONS FROM PHAROAH WILLIAMS, WE CAME TO HIS GRANDFATHER, PHARRELL'S GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER, A MAN NAMED FENNER WILLIAMS, FENNER DIED IN NORTH CAROLINA IN 1927.
BUT HIS SISTER, JANE ARRINGTON, LIVED INTO THE LATE 1930'S, AND AT THE END OF HER LIFE, SHE WAS INTERVIEWED ABOUT HER EXPERIENCES UNDER SLAVERY, ALLOWING PHARRELL THE RARE OPPORTUNITY TO READ THE ACTUAL WORDS OF ONE OF HIS OWN RELATIVES WHO HAD ENDURED BONDAGE, SOMETHING VERY FEW AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE EVER ABLE TO DO.
WILLIAMS: "I WAS BORN ON THE 18TH OF DECEMBER 1852.
I WAS BORN ON THE PLANTATION NEAR TAR RIVER.
MY MOTHER WAS NAMED LOUISA MAY, AND MY FATHER WAS NAMED LOUIS MAY.
MY MOTHER HAD SIX CHILDREN, FOUR BOYS AND TWO GIRLS.
THE BOYS WERE RICHARD, FARRO, CAESER, AND FENNER.
THE GIRLS, ROSE AND JANE.
JANE, THAT'S ME."
WOW.
GATES: IT'S LIKE YOUR WHOLE FAMILY TREE JUST CAME POPPING UP OUT OF THAT BOOK THROUGH THAT ONE TESTIMONY OF JANE ARRINGTON.
THAT IS YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER'S SISTER, AND SHE IS YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-AUNT.
WILLIAMS: CRAZY.
MAN, I'M JUST, LIKE, THERE'S JUST SO MANY EMOTIONS, SO MANY, LIKE, FEELINGS.
LIKE, WOW.
I MEAN, AND TO HEAR HER WORDS, YOU KNOW, THIS IS WORTH MORE THAN ANYTHING.
THIS IS PRICELESS.
GATES: JANE ARRINGTON WAS INTERVIEWED AS PART OF WHAT'S KNOWN AS "THE SLAVE NARRATIVE PROJECT," A COLLECTIVE ORAL HISTORY OF ROUGHLY 2300 FORMERLY ENSLAVED PEOPLE, THAT WAS SPONSORED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN THE 1930'S.
HER WORDS GAVE PHARRELL AN INTIMATE GLIMPSE OF HIS ANCESTORS, BUT THEY ALSO FORCED HIM TO CONFRONT THE REALITY OF WHAT THOSE ANCESTORS ACTUALLY EXPERIENCED, AND THE REALIZATIONS CONCERNING HIS GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER FENNER WOULD STRIKE PHARRELL PARTICULARLY HARD.
SO WE ESTIMATE THAT FENNER WAS BORN BETWEEN 1855 AND 1857, OKAY?
WE'RE PRETTY SURE ABOUT THAT.
SO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?
THAT MEANS THAT HE WAS MOST LIKELY BORN INTO SLAVERY.
WILLIAMS: MMM.
GATES: AND NOT FREED UNTIL THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR.
WILLIAMS: WOW, AT 10 YEARS OLD?
GATES: YEAH, THE FIRST 10 YEARS OF HIS LIFE WOULD HAVE BEEN SPENT ENSLAVED.
WILLIAMS: WOW.
THAT'S CRAZY.
GATES: YOU KNOW, WE TEND TO THINK AS ADULTS, BUT THINK ABOUT A LITTLE BOY.
WHAT WERE YOU DOING AT 10, MAN, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?
WILLIAMS: MY SON IS 11.
GATES: YEAH.
WILLIAMS: I CAN'T IMAGINE.
GATES: FOR MOST OF US, SLAVERY IS JUST AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT, IT'S SOMETHING WE'RE, WE KNOW THAT WAS WRONG, WE WERE VICTIMS BY IT, BUT THIS PUTS A VOICE AND A FACE TO THE SLAVE EXPERIENCE IN YOUR OWN BLOODLINES, IN YOUR OWN FAMILY.
WILLIAMS: THIS IS CRAZY, BECAUSE I WENT FROM, LIKE, BUZZING OF EXCITEMENT, AND NOW IT'S LIKE, JUST ANGRY.
GATES: WE ALL SHOULD BE ANGRY.
EVERYBODY WHO WAS ALIVE THEN SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANGRY, AND THEY MADE UP ALL THESE EXCUSES, OUR ANCESTORS WERE NOT HUMAN, MORE LIKE APES, MORE LIKE MONKEYS, INHERENTLY STUPID, CHILDLIKE, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, AND IT WAS ALL SO THEY COULD EXPLOIT OUR LABOR, HAVE FREE LABOR TO BUILD THIS COUNTRY.
WILLIAMS: MAN, THIS'LL DO SOMETHING TO YOU, MAN.
GATES: OH.
WILLIAMS: THIS WILL DO SOMETHING TO YOU.
THIS WILL MAKE YOU FEEL SOME FEELINGS.
GATES: PHARRELL'S "FEELINGS" WERE ABOUT TO DARKEN, AND DARKEN SIGNIFICANTLY, ACCORDING TO HIS THIRD GREAT AUNT, PHARRELL'S ANCESTORS WERE OWNED BY A MAN NAMED ANDREW JACKSON MAY, A PLANTER IN NASH COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA.
IN HER INTERVIEW, JANE RECALLED MINUTE DETAILS ABOUT THEIR DAILY LIVES ON MAY'S PLANTATION.
WILLIAMS: "WE LIVED IN LOG HOUSES WITH STICK AND DIRT CHIMNEYS.
THEY CALLED THEM THE SLAVE HOUSES.
I WORKED ON THE FARM CUTTING CORN STALKS AND TENDING TO CATTLE IN SLAVERY TIME.
SOMETIMES I SWEPT THE YARDS.
AFTER WORKING ALL DAY THERE WAS A TASK OF COTTON TO BE PICKED AND SPUN BY THEM."
WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE?
WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE?
GATES: DO YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE?
TURN THE PAGE.
PHARRELL, YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE MAN WHO OWNED YOUR ANCESTORS.
THAT IS THE KIND OF PERSON WHO WOULD ENSLAVE ANOTHER PERSON.
THAT IS ANDREW JACKSON MAY.
WILLIAMS: IT'S WHY IT'S, IT'S MESSING WITH MY MIND.
IT'S MESSING WITH MY SPIRIT.
IT'S MESSING WITH WHO I AM.
IT'S MESSING WITH EVERYTHING THAT I REPRESENT BECAUSE I HAVE NO EMPATHY FOR HIM.
GATES: WHY WOULD YOU?
WILLIAMS: IT'S A, IT'S A, IT'S A, IT'S A, I CAN'T DESCRIBE THIS FEELING.
I'M SO GRATEFUL TO HAVE ANY KIND OF CONNECTION, YOU KNOW, INFORMATION ON MY ANCESTORS, AND EVEN TO HEAR THINGS IN THEIR OWN WORDS.
GATES: MMM-HMM.
WILLIAMS: BUT THEN THERE'S THIS ANGER AND JUST RESENTMENT.
GATES: PHARRELL'S ANCESTORS LIKELY SUFFERED MORE THAN HE CAN EVEN IMAGINE, ACCORDING TO JANE'S INTERVIEW, HER MOTHER, PHARRELL'S THIRD GREAT-GRANDMOTHER, WAS SOLD TO ANDREW JACKSON MAY BY A WOMAN NAMED PENNY WILLIAMS, AND PENNY WAS AN ABUSIVE SLAVE-OWNER.
WILLIAMS: "OLD MISSUS PENNY WILLIAMS, BEFORE JACKSON MAY BOUGHT MOTHER, TREATED SOME OF THE SLAVES MIGHTY BAD.
THEY TOLD ME ABOUT SLAVES THAT HAD BEEN KILLED BY THEIR MASTERS COMING BACK AND WORRYING THEM.
JOHN MAY, A SLAVE THAT WAS BEAT TO DEATH.
THESE WHITE MEN WOULD GROAN IN THEIR SLEEP.
THEY WOULD SAY, GO AWAY, JOHN, PLEASE GO AWAY, BECAUSE THE GHOST OF JOHN WORRIED THEM SO BAD."
I DON'T WANT TO CRY AND I'M TRYING NOT TO BE ANGRY.
GATES: YOU'RE NOT A MACHINE.
THIS IS HORRENDOUS.
WHAT ELSE CAN YOU FEEL?
IT'S HORRIBLE.
WILLIAMS: IT'S INTENSE, SIR.
IT'S INTENSE.
THIS IS BREAKING ME DOWN.
I JUST KEEP HAVING THESE MOMENTS WHERE, LIKE, THERE'S LIKE, MOMENTS OF SILENT, SILENCE BETWEEN US, AND YOU'RE BEING SO GRACIOUS WITH YOUR TIME, AND EVERYBODY HERE, YOU KNOW, THE, THE CREW, BUT I KEEP GOING, OH, MAN, I JUST DID IT AGAIN, THERE'S BEEN A FULL MINUTE OF ME NOT SAYING ANYTHING, STARING INTO THE, INTO THE DISTANCE OF THE MOMENT.
LIKE, JUST TRYING TO GRAPPLE WITH THE, THE INTENSITY.
GATES: MM-HMM.
WILLIAMS: IT'S JUST TO SUCH A DEPTH THAT I CAN NEVER MAKE ANYBODY FEEL UNTIL THEY HAVE THIS EXPERIENCE.
GATES: THERE WAS ONE MORE DETAIL TO THIS STORY, PENNY WILLIAMS WAS ANDREW JACKSON MAY'S AUNT, HER MAIDEN NAME WAS "MAY" SHE TOOK THE SURNAME "WILLIAMS" IN 1816, WHEN SHE MARRIED A MAN NAMED WILLIAM B. WILLIAMS, A NAME, OF COURSE, THAT HAS A SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE TO PHARRELL.
WE BELIEVE THAT YOUR LAST NAME, WILLIAMS, COMES FROM PENNY'S HUSBAND, WILLIAM B. WILLIAMS.
THAT WAS THE ORIGIN OF YOUR SURNAME, YOU EVER WONDERED WHERE YOUR NAME CAME FROM?
WILLIAMS: I KNEW.
IT'S NOT, IT'S NOT AN AFRICAN NAME.
GATES: NO, RIGHT.
WILLIAMS: I KNEW WE GOT IT FROM SOMEWHERE, BUT IT'S JUST, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU START TO FILL IN THE BLANKS, IT JUST INTENSIFIES.
GATES: MM-HMM.
WILLIAMS: IT PUTS A VERY VIVID, INTENSE CONTEXT BEHIND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AFRICAN AMERICAN, AND I THANK GOD THAT I GOT TO HEAR IT, BUT I'M SO SORRY THEY WENT THROUGH THIS.
GATES: OH, NOBODY SHOULD HAVE GONE THROUGH THIS.
WILLIAMS: IT'S A LOT MAN.
GATES: OH.
WILLIAMS: I THINK THIS, I HAVE TO SAY, I AM FOREVER CHANGED.
I DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD BE, LIKE, YOU KNOW, HAVE, LIKE, HUMANITARIAN VIBES AND BE ANGRY.
THAT'S, THIS IS NEW FOR ME.
GATES: LIKE PHARRELL, KASI LEMMONS WAS ABOUT TO BE TRANSPORTED BACK TO THE SLAVE ERA THROUGH THE WORDS OF HER OWN FLESH AND BLOOD, THE STORY, HOWEVER, WOULD PROVE TO HAVE A VERY DIFFERENT OUTCOME.
IT BEGINS WITH KASI'S GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER, A MAN NAMED PRIMUS LEMONS, WHO WAS CELEBRATED IN A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE, PUBLISHED IN ALABAMA IN 1879, 14 YEARS AFTER THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR.
LEMMONS: "THE SUCCESS OF PRIMUS LEMONS OF PICKENS COUNTY, ALABAMA, WOULD SEEM TO DISPROVE THE OFT REPEATED REMARK THAT 'FARMING DON'T PAY.'
PRIMUS BECAME THE PROPERTY OF DR. TALIFERO ADAMS OF SUMTER COUNTY.
HE BELONGED TO DR. ADAMS WHEN THE WAR CAME ON, AND SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN A FAVORITE AND FAITHFUL SERVANT."
GATES: HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF PRIMUS LEMON?
LEMMONS: NO.
GATES: AFRICAN AMERICANS WANT DESPERATELY TO FIND DETAILS ABOUT THEIR ANCESTORS' ENSLAVEMENT AND THE MOST IMPORTANT DETAIL IS WHO OWNED MY FAMILY.
LEMMONS: RIGHT.
GATES: AND THROUGH THAT ARTICLE YOU HAVE DISCOVERED THAT YOUR ANCESTOR WAS OWNED BY A DOCTOR.
DR. TALIFERO ADAMS.
AND THIS ARTICLE IS NOT ABOUT HIM.
IT IS ABOUT YOUR ANCESTOR.
IT'S ABOUT PRIMUS.
IT TELLS US HIS STORY.
LEMMONS: THAT'S VERY, VERY, VERY COOL!
GATES: THIS ARTICLE SENT OUR RESEARCHERS INTO THE ARCHIVES, LOOKING FOR ANY EVIDENCE OF PRIMUS'S LIFE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR, IN THE 1860 CENSUS, WE FOUND A SLAVE SCHEDULE FOR DOCTOR ADAMS, INDICATING THAT HE OWNED 93 HUMAN BEINGS, THEY ARE LISTED, NOT BY NAME, BUT ONLY BY AGE, GENDER, AND COLOR, OFFERING KASI A RARE OPPORTUNITY THE CHANCE TO SEE THE EVIDENCE OF HER ENSLAVED ANCESTOR ON AN ACTUAL DOCUMENT.
DO YOU SEE ANY MALE SLAVES WHO WERE AROUND PRIMUS'S AGE ON THE DOCUMENT IN FRONT OF YOU?
LEMMONS: YEAH.
THERE ARE FOUR MALES AGE 38 AND ONE 36.
GATES: MM-HUM.
WELL, WE BELIEVE THAT ONE OF THOSE FIVE MALES IS YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER, PRIMUS.
LEMMONS: WOW.
GATES: HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL SEEING THAT?
LEMMONS: IT'S LIKE A TREASURE CHEST.
GATES: IT IS.
YEAH.
LEMMONS: IT'S LIKE A TREASURE CHEST AND THERE'S A BEAUTY TO IT THAT'S HARD FOR ME TO, I KNOW IT WILL BE HARD FOR ME TO ARTICULATE.
I'M IMAGINING TALKING TO MY CHILDREN ABOUT IT, AND I REALLY NEED TO GET THEM TO SEE IT BECAUSE IT'S CRUSHING ALSO, YOU KNOW, TO NOT BE NAMED.
YOU'RE A MALE OWNED BY SOMEBODY WHO HAD MANY OTHER SLAVES.
UM, BUT YOU KNOW IT'S THIS HISTORY THAT WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT.
I DIDN'T KNOW ANY OF THIS.
GATES: YEAH, RIGHT.
LEMMONS: AND THERE'S SOMETHING REASSURING ABOUT IT BEING THIS TANGIBLE, YOU KNOW.
THERE'S SOMETHING REALLY REASSURING ABOUT IT.
THERE'S SOMETHING, LIKE, WEIRDLY LIFE AFFIRMING ABOUT IT.
GATES: PRIMUS LEMONS IS ALMOST CERTAINLY ONE OF THE ANONYMOUS HUMAN BEINGS REPRESENTED BY THE HASH MARKS ON THIS CENSUS, RENDERED NAMELESS TO UNDERSCORE THEIR LEGAL STATUS AS PROPERTY.
BUT IN ONE SIGNIFICANT WAY, PRIMUS WAS NOT ACTUALLY THAT SIMILAR TO THE OTHER ENSLAVED MEN AND WOMEN LISTED HERE.
THE INTERVIEW THAT HE GAVE IN 1879 SUGGESTS THAT HIS RELATIONSHIP TO THE ADAMS FAMILY WAS HIGHLY UNUSUAL.
INDEED, WHEN THE CIVIL WAR CAME, IT SEEMS THAT PRIMUS FOUND HIMSELF LEAVING THEIR PLANTATION TO ACCOMPANY HIS OWNER'S SON INTO THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.
LEMMONS: "WHEN YOUNG TOM ADAMS SHOULDERED HIS MUSKET IN THE LATE WAR, PRIMUS SHOULDERED THE FRYING-PAN, AND BECAME HIS COMMISSARY SERGEANT."
WOW.
GATES: WHEN HIS MASTER WENT OFF TO THE WAR, HE TOOK PRIMUS WITH HIM.
HE DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE, YOU KNOW, THEY TOOK SERVANTS WITH THEM.
LEMMONS: "YOU'RE GOING TO COOK FOR ME."
GATES: YEAH.
"YOU'RE GONNA COOK."
"HEY, WHAT'S FOR BREAKFAST?"
LEMMONS: YUP.
GATES: HOW DO YOU IMAGINE PRIMUS WAS ABLE TO RECONCILE THE FACT THAT IN EFFECT HE WAS AIDING AN ARMY THAT WAS FIGHTING ESSENTIALLY TO KEEP HIM ENSLAVED?
LEMMONS: WELL, I WONDER WHAT HE THOUGHT ABOUT IT.
LIKE I WONDER WHAT HE UNDERSTOOD ABOUT IT AND WHAT HE WAS TOLD AND WHAT HE THOUGHT ABOUT IT.
GATES: PRIMUS WAS NOT ALONE.
HISTORIANS ESTIMATE THAT THOUSANDS OF ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE FORCED INTO THE WAR, WHERE THEY WERE PUT TO USE AS TEAMSTERS, COOKS, MAN SERVANTS AND OTHER FORMS OF LABOR.
IT'S DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE WHAT PRIMUS MUST HAVE THOUGHT OF THE EXPERIENCE.
BUT SOMETHING EVEN MORE UNIMAGINABLE WAS STILL TO COME.
CONFEDERATE MILITARY RECORDS SHOW THAT TOM ADAMS ENDED UP IN VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI, WHICH FELL TO UNION FORCES ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1863, AFTER A PROLONGED SIEGE.
SUDDENLY, PRIMUS FOUND HIMSELF IN A VERY ADVANTAGEOUS POSITION, ACCORDING TO THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, ANY ENSLAVED PERSON WITHIN THE CONFEDERACY WHO MADE IT BEHIND UNION LINES WAS AUTOMATICALLY FREE.
BUT KASI'S ANCESTOR CHOSE TO FORGO THIS OPPORTUNITY.
WHEN TOM ADAMS WAS PAROLED, PRIMUS ACCOMPANIED HIM BACK TO ALABAMA!
LEMMONS: "FINALLY, HE REACHED THE OLD HOME, AND HAD A JOYFUL AND ALSO A SAD MEETING WITH DR. ADAMS AND HIS FAMILY, WHO WERE VERY KIND TO HIM."
DEEP.
THAT'S DEEP.
GATES: HE COULD HAVE BEEN A FREE MAN IN MISSISSIPPI IF HE'D STAYED BEHIND THE UNION LINES, BUT HE CHOSE NOT TO.
HE WENT BACK TO ALABAMA AS A SLAVE.
LEMMONS: WOW.
GATES: I MEAN WHO ARE WE TO JUDGE BUT THE FACT IS HE HAD A CHOICE AND I'M SURE SOMEBODY IN THE UNION SAY, "PRIMUS."
LEMMONS: "WAKE UP.
WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?"
GATES: "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PRIMUS?"
LEMMONS: RIGHT.
WOW.
THAT IS DEEP.
GATES: WELL, THERE'S ONE MORE FACT THAT I THINK WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND WHY HE MIGHT HAVE GONE BACK.
LEMMONS: HE WENT BACK FOR HIS FAMILY OR HIS WIFE OR HIS CHILD.
GATES: YOU GOT IT.
BY THE TIME HE WENT OFF TO WAR, PRIMUS HAD AT LEAST TWO CHILDREN INCLUDING YOUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER WILLIAM LEMON WHO WAS BORN AROUND 1843.
LEMMONS: WOW.
GATES: SO HE WENT BACK TO HIS WIFE AND HIS CHILDREN.
LEMMONS: HIS FAMILY.
THAT'S WHY PEOPLE DIDN'T RUN.
GATES: YEAH.
LEMMONS: YOU KNOW, BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO STAY WITH THEIR FAMILIES.
GATES: YEAH.
HE WENT BACK FOR HIS FAMILY.
LEMMONS: YEAH.
YEAH.
THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE.
GATES: PRIMUS'S SURPRISING DECISION WOULD YIELD A SURPRISING RESULT, AFTER THE WAR ENDED, HE REMAINED IN ALABAMA, WHERE HE THRIVED, THANKS, IN NO SMALL PART, TO THE ASSISTANCE OF HIS FORMER OWNER.
LEMMONS: "DURING '65 HE TRIED PEDDLING CHICKENS, EGGS, ETC.
BUT FOUND IT A SLOW WAY TO MAKE MONEY.
DR. ADAMS GAVE HIM WHAT LAND HE COULD WORK IN '66.
HAVING SAVED, BY TRADING IN THE ARMY AS MUCH AS $114 IN GOOD MONEY, HIS WIFE HAVING SAVED $60, HE BOUGHT HIM A PONY AND HIRED A BLIND HORSE.
WITH HIS WIFE AND A LITTLE 10-YEAR-OLD BOY, HE WENT TO WORK, AND THAT YEAR NETTED $514.
HE THEN RENTED LAND, BOUGHT HIM A TEAM AND WAGON, HIRED A HAND OR TWO AND NEXT YEAR CLEARED $1,050.
THE NEXT YEAR HE CLEARED $2,500, WHEN MR. SAMUEL SOLD HIM A FARM FOR $5,000, HIRED WORKING HANDS AND WORKED HIMSELF AND HIS FAMILY WORKED AND TODAY HE IS ONE OF THE MOST RELIABLE AND INDEPENDENT MEN IN PICKENS COUNTY, AND EVERY WAY RESPECTED AND ESTEEMED BY ALL.
HIS FARM IS SPLENDID IN REPAIR AND IN FINE STATE OF CULTIVATION.
HERE IS A PICTURE FOR SERIOUS STUDY.
AN UNEDUCATED NEGRO OUTSTRIPPING NINE-TENTHS OF THE LANDOWNERS IN THIS OR ANY OTHER SECTION."
GATES: PRIMUS WAS A VERY PROSPEROUS FARMER.
HE WAS A BRILLIANT, INDUSTRIOUS MAN.
LEMMONS: YEAH.
THAT'S AMAZING.
GATES: WHAT'S IT LIKE TO LEARN THIS STORY?
LEMMONS: IT'S SO, YEAH.
IT'S AN INCREDIBLE STORY.
IT'S BEAUTIFUL AND IT'S EMOTIONAL AND IT'S CONFUSING UM, AND IT'S FASCINATING.
I HAVE RESPECT FOR HIM THOUGH BECAUSE HOWEVER HE DID IT OR WHY EVER HE DID IT, UM, YOU KNOW, HE MADE HIS MONEY.
GATES: YES.
LEMMONS: AND SOMEHOW BECAME SOMEBODY THAT PEOPLE WOULD STUDY AND WRITE ABOUT.
GATES: I MEAN, THERE WERE ALL KINDS OF VIGILANTE TERRORISTS WHO WERE TRYING TO KEEP BLACK PEOPLE LIKE YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER FROM PROSPERING ON PROPERTY, LEMMONS: RIGHT.
GATES: BUT THAT'S NOT THE STORY.
LEMMONS: RIGHT.
GATES: THE KLAN DID NOT SHOW UP AND BURN PRIMUS'S FARM DOWN.
IN FACT, THEY INTERVIEWED HIM AND PUT HIM IN THE PAPER.
LEMMONS: YUP.
GATES: THIS ARTICLE MAY FLY IN THE FACE OF MODERN DAY EXPECTATIONS, BUT IT CONCEALS A HIDDEN AGENDA.
IT WAS PUBLISHED JUST AFTER RECONSTRUCTION HAD COLLAPSED WHEN SOUTHERN WHITES, MANY OF THEM EX-CONFEDERATES, WERE RE-ASSERTING CONTROL AND RECASTING THEIR HISTORY.
A KEY PART OF THIS EFFORT CENTERED ON SLAVERY, AND ITS ROLE IN THE CIVIL WAR.
SOUTHERN NEWSPAPERS WERE FILLED WITH STORIES ABOUT LOYAL SLAVES WHO HAD DEFENDED THEIR MASTERS AND SERVED THE CONFEDERACY.
IT WAS ALL A FANTASY, AN ATTEMPT TO WHITEWASH THE PAST WITH CLAIMS THAT SLAVERY HAD BEEN PRIMARILY A BENIGN INSTITUTION.
BUT IT POSED REAL DANGERS TO AFRICAN AMERICANS.
PEOPLE LIKE PRIMUS KNEW THAT THEY HAD TO AT LEAST PRETEND TO DEFER TO THEIR FORMER MASTERS IF THEY WANTED TO ESCAPE RETRIBUTION.
AND TUCKED INTO HIS INTERVIEW IS A TELLING CLUE OF HOW PRIMUS TRULY THOUGHT OF HIMSELF... LEMMONS: "PRIMUS IS A NATIVE OF MARYLAND, THE SON OF A NATIVE AFRICAN, JIM LEMONS.
HE RETAINED THE NAME OF 'LEMONS' THINKING HE MIGHT SOMEDAY SEE SOMEONE WHO KNEW HIS FATHER'S FAMILY IN AFRICA."
WE JUST WENT BACK TO AFRICA.
IT'S SO INTERESTING.
WOW.
GATES: YOU CAN SAY WHATEVER YOU WANT ABOUT PRIMUS GOING BACK, BUT PRIMUS WAS AN AFRICAN.
HE WAS A HOMEBOY.
HE WANTED TO TELL THIS STORY.
LEMMONS: TO CONNECT TO HIS FATHER'S FAMILY.
GATES: YEAH.
IN 1879, DESPITE ALL THE ROMANTICIZATION GOING ON ABOUT THE GOOD OLD DAYS ON THE PLANTATION HE GOES, "YOU KNOW WHAT, I'M AN AFRICAN.
ONE GENERATION AWAY AND I KEPT THAT NAME BECAUSE I'M PROUD OF BEING AFRICAN."
THAT IS A REMARKABLE TWIST OF THIS STORY.
LEMMONS: I WONDER WHAT HIS NAME REALLY WAS.
GATES: WE CAN'T ANSWER KASI'S QUESTION.
ACCORDING TO SCHOLARS, "LEMONS" IS NOT RECOGNIZABLY AN AFRICAN NAME, THOUGH IT COULD BE A PHONETIC RENDERING OF AN AFRICAN WORD THAT HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED OVER TIME AND IS NOW LOST TO US.
WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT PRIMUS'S FATHER, KASI'S 3RD GREAT-GRANDFATHER, WAS LIKELY TRANSPORTED TO THE UNITED STATES FROM AFRICA AS A CHILD IN THE EARLY 1800s, JUST BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE WAS ABOLISHED IN 1808.
LEMMONS: SO HE CAME RELATIVELY RECENTLY.
GATES: YES.
SO IN OTHER WORDS, PRIMUS COULD REACH OUT AND TOUCH AFRICA THROUGH HIS FATHER.
HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?
LEMMONS: IT'S GREAT.
IT'S DEEPLY MOVING, YOU KNOW, AND REWARDING.
I MEAN, TO KNOW, TO BE ABLE TO CONNECT AN AFRICAN, I MEAN THAT'S SO MONUMENTAL FOR ME.
I MEAN THAT'S MONUMENTAL FOR ME TO KNOW SOMETHING OF HIS NAME, YOU KNOW, UM, AND THAT HIS SON YEARNED TO FIND HIS PEOPLE BECAUSE THAT'S OUR YEARNING, RIGHT.
THAT'S MY YEARNING NOW.
THAT'S WHAT THIS IS SATISFYING, THAT YEARNING TO FIND YOUR PEOPLE AND YOUR ROOTS AND YOUR WAY BACK TO AFRICA.
IN A SENSE, YOUR WAY, YOU KNOW, YOUR PATH.
HOW DID WE GET HERE AND WHAT WAS THE METHODOLOGY AND THE MACHINATIONS, OF WHICH WE KNOW ARE HORRIBLE AND YET IN A WEIRD WAY I FEEL PRIDE IN THE KNOWING OF IT, IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF IT, AND IN THE INFORMATION.
GATES: WE'D ALREADY INTRODUCED PHARRELL WILLIAMS TO SOME OF THE ENSLAVED ANCESTORS ON HIS FATHER'S FAMILY TREE, THANKS TO A REMARKABLE INTERVIEW GIVEN BY HIS THIRD GREAT AUNT, JANE ARRINGTON, IN THE 1930s, THE EXPERIENCE HAD PROVEN SO PROFOUNDLY UNSETTLING TO PHARRELL, THAT I DID SOMETHING I'D NEVER DONE BEFORE, I STOPPED OUR CONVERSATION, TO GIVE PHARRELL THE CHANCE TO RECOVER AND REFLECT, THEN I RETURNED, WEEKS LATER, TO CONTINUE.
SO HOW DID YOU PROCESS OUR LAST TIME TOGETHER, OUR LAST SESSION?
I FOUND HIM STILL STRUGGLING WITH WHAT HE'D LEARNED.
WILLIAMS: IT WAS AND IT REMAINS HEAVY.
LOOK, I KNEW THAT THIS WAS GOING TO BE A ROLLER COASTER.
I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS GOING TO BE AS STEEP AS IT WAS, THE HEIGHTS WOULD BE AS HIGH AS THEY WERE AND I DIDN'T KNOW THAT THE DIPS WOULD BE SO ABRUPT AS THEY WERE.
AND SO I FOUND MYSELF LIKE I FEEL LIKE I WAS MAKING FACES THAT UM, ARE PROBABLY GOING TO BE REALLY EMBARRASSING LATER.
GATES: YOU WERE TRYING, TO ME IT SEEMED LIKE YOU WERE TRYING TO KEEP FROM CRYING.
WILLIAMS: YEAH.
GATES: AND YOU WERE PROFOUND, BUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH CRYING?
WE HAVE SO MUCH TO CRY ABOUT AS A PEOPLE.
WILLIAMS: YOU'RE RIGHT.
BUT SOME PEOPLE JUST, THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO UM, ARE A BIT MORE SELF-CONSCIOUS ABOUT, THEY SELF-CONSCIENTIOUS ABOUT CERTAIN THINGS GATES: RIGHT.
WILLIAMS: AND MY EMOTIONS ARE ONE OF THEM.
GATES: I GOT YOU.
WILLIAMS: YEAH.
I'M ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE.
GATES: PHARRELL TOLD ME THAT, DESPITE THE CHALLENGES, HE VERY MUCH WANTED TO SEE WHAT ELSE WE'D DISCOVERED ABOUT HIS ROOTS, SO WE RETURNED TO JANE'S INTERVIEW AND TO HER ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED TO HER PARENTS, LOUIS AND LOUISA MAY, WHEN THE CIVIL WAR ENDED AND THEY WERE FINALLY FREED, LOUIS AND LOUISA ARE PHARRELL'S THIRD GREAT-GRANDPARENTS.
THEY WERE BOTH LIKELY BORN INTO SLAVERY IN NORTH CAROLINA, SOMETIME IN THE 1820S OR THE 1830S.
AND, PERHAPS UNSURPRISINGLY, FREEDOM BROUGHT THEM TRIALS ALL ITS OWN.
WILLIAMS: "THEN THE YANKEES COME.
I HEARD THEM BEAT THE DRUM.
MASTER TOLD US WE WAS FREE BUT MOTHER AND FATHER STAYED ON WITH MASTER.
HE PROMISED THEM SOMETHING BUT HE GIVE THEM NOTHING.
WHEN THE CROP WAS HOUSED, THEY LEFT.
THEY MOVED ABOUT AND ABOUT AMONG THE WHITE FOLKS TILL THEY DIED."
GATES: UPON BEING EMANCIPATED, LOUISA AND LOUIS DECIDED TO STAY ON ANDREW JACKSON MAY'S FARM AND WORK FOR HIM UNTIL HARVEST UNDER THE PRETENSE THAT THEY WERE GOING TO GET PAID.
WILLIAMS: AND HE GAVE THEM NOTHING.
GATES: HE GAVE THEM NOTHING SO THEY LEFT HIS PLANTATION AND TRIED TO MAKE IT BY WORKING FOR OTHER WHITE PEOPLE IN THE AREA, WHICH IS THE ONLY THING THAT THEY COULD DO.
BUT THEY GOT FREE AND SHE REMEMBERED.
YOU HAVE AN AMAZING DOCUMENT.
YOU KNOW, THIS THIRD GREAT AUNT OF YOURS IS THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING.
WILLIAMS: I THANKED HER FOR THAT.
YOU KNOW, ALL OF HER DESCENDANTS THANK HER FOR THAT.
GATES: BECAUSE OF HER WE CAN RECREATE YOUR FAMILY TREE AND THAT IS A GREAT GIFT.
TESTIFYING IS A WAY OF DEFYING.
TESTIFYING IS A WAY OF NOT ALLOWING YOUR SOUL TO BE CRUSHED.
WILLIAMS: YES.
GATES: AND YOUR FAMILY FOUND WAYS.
WILLIAMS: YEAH.
GATES: WE NOW TURNED TO THE ARCHIVES, SEEKING DOCUMENTS TO SUPPORT JANE'S MEMORIES.
WHILE WE COULDN'T SUBSTANTIATE EVERY CLAIM SHE MADE, WE FOUND NUMEROUS RECORDS THAT GIVE CREDENCE TO HER WORDS.
INCLUDING WILLS, CENSUS FORMS, AND EVEN A NOTICE FOR THE CAPTURE OF A RUNAWAY SLAVE, INDICATING THAT PHARRELL HAD AT LEAST THREE GENERATIONS OF ANCESTORS WHO ENDURED BONDAGE, EXACTLY AS JANE HAD SAID, THE REVELATIONS DREW HIM BACK TO THE PAIN HE'D FELT IN OUR FIRST MEETING.
WILLIAMS: IT BOTHERS ME BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT THEY ACTUALLY WENT THROUGH, LIKE THEIR LIVES WERE FINITE AND IT HAPPENED THE WAY IT HAPPENED AND THERE'S NOTHING THAT I CAN DO TO CHANGE THAT.
SO, THEY LIVED THAT LIFE THE WAY THAT THEY DID.
THEY ALSO HAPPEN TO BE THE REASON WHY I'M HERE BUT IT BOTHERS ME THAT THEY HAD TO GO THROUGH THAT AND IT REALLY BOTHERS ME THAT MOST OF THIS NATION HAS NO IDEA OF THIS HISTORY BECAUSE THEY ONLY REALLY TELL A VERY SMALL PORTION OF THE TRUTH.
GATES: MMM-HMM.
WILLIAMS: UM, AND, AND THAT PORTION OF THE TRUTH IS WHITEWASHED IN A WAY TO MAKE IT DIGESTIBLE FOR PEOPLE TO TALK ABOUT IN SCHOOL DURING THEIR ACADEMICS, BUT NO ONE REALLY UNDERSTANDS THE GRAVITY OF THIS.
I FEEL THIS BECAUSE THIS IS CONNECTED TO MY DNA.
GATES: MM-HMM.
WILLIAMS: WHEN ASK ME HOW DO I FEEL WHEN I READ THIS ABOUT MY DNA, IT MAKES ME THINK ABOUT NOT ONLY THEM AND US BUT IT MAKES ME THINK ABOUT THE WHOLE OF THIS COUNTRY, BECAUSE I LOVE THIS COUNTRY BUT I JUST WANT THIS COUNTRY TO LOVE US IN THE SAME WAY.
GATES: RIGHT AND TO APPRECIATE ALL THAT WE'VE GONE THROUGH.
WILLIAMS: YES.
LIKE HOW DO YOU ENSLAVE CHILDREN?
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
THAT'S MY QUESTION.
LIKE WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE AND WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE, WHO ARE THE DESCENDANTS OF THESE PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW THAT THE RIGHT THING TO DO IS TO BRING SOME SENSE OF REPAIR, REPARATIONS.
GATES: IF WE COULD FIND THE PEOPLE WHO OWNED YOUR ANCESTORS, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
I MEAN WOULD YOU WANT TO MEET THEM?
WILLIAMS: I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A CONVERSATION.
I CAN'T ASK YOU TO ATONE FOR YOUR ANCESTORS' SINS BUT I CAN ASK YOU TO GET INTO THE CONVERSATION.
AND IT'S NOT ABOUT ME TRYING TO CONFRONT.
IT'S JUST LIKE LET'S HAVE THE CONVERSATION BECAUSE WE NEED, YOU KNOW WHAT.
HERE'S WHAT I DO KNOW IN THIS COUNTRY.
AS AFRICAN AMERICANS WE NEED ADVOCATES.
GATES: RIGHT.
WILLIAMS: WE NEED ALLIES.
GATES: RIGHT.
ACROSS THE COLOR LINE.
WILLIAMS: 100%.
GATES: RIGHT.
BUT VERY FEW AFRICAN AMERICANS THAT YOU AND I KNOW CAN EXPERIENCE SLAVERY SO INTIMATELY AS YOU HAVE OVER THE LAST MONTH THROUGH YOUR OWN FAMILY TREE.
HAS THAT BEEN A GOOD THING?
WILLIAMS: THIS IS NO MISTAKE.
THIS IS THE WAY IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE.
I WAS SUPPOSED TO HEAR THIS AND SEE THIS, THANK YOU.
UM, AND IF I HEAR IT AND I, AND I SEE IT I'M ALSO SUPPOSED TO FEEL IT AND I FEEL IT.
GATES: WE HAD ALREADY TRACED KASI LEMMONS' PATERNAL ROOTS BACK TO HER GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER, PRIMUS LEMONS, THE SON OF A NATIVE-BORN AFRICAN, TURNING TO KASI'S MOTHER'S ANCESTRY, WE ENCOUNTERED A WOMAN WHOSE ORIGINS WERE MORE OBSCURE: KASI'S GREAT-GRANDMOTHER, RACHEL ANDRESS.
WE FOUND HER IN THE 1870 CENSUS, THE FIRST CENSUS CONDUCTED AFTER THE CIVIL WAR LIVING WITH HER YOUNG DAUGHTER.
LEMMONS: "RACHEL ANDRESS, 25, MULATTO, BORN: ALABAMA.
ANNIS ANDRESS, 3 MONTHS, MULATTO, BORN: ALABAMA."
GATES: NOW, YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF THESE PEOPLE?
LEMMONS: I DON'T KNOW IF I EVER SAW THEIR NAME.
I'M NOT SURE.
GATES: THAT'S YOUR GREAT-GRANDMOTHER RACHEL AND HER INFANT DAUGHTER ANNIS, A-N-N-I-S, WHO WAS YOUR GRANDFATHER ELBERT'S HALF SISTER.
LEMMONS: THAT'S VERY COOL.
GATES: AS YOU CAN SEE, BOTH OF THEM ARE LISTED AS MULATTO.
LEMMONS: OKAY.
GATES: YOU WOULD HAVE TO BE THE MOST UNUSUAL BLACK PERSON I'VE EVER MET NOT TO HAVE ASSUMED THAT YOU HAVE WHITE ANCESTORS.
LEMMONS: RIGHT.
GATES: SO KASI, THIS UNFORTUNATELY IS WHERE THE PAPER TRAIL FOR YOUR GREAT-GRANDMOTHER RACHEL RAN DRY.
HOWEVER, THERE IS MORE TO GENEALOGY TODAY THAN DOCUMENTS.
WE ALSO HAVE DNA.
AND WHEN WE LOOKED AT YOUR DNA WE NOTICED SOMETHING QUITE INTRIGUING, WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE WHAT WE FOUND?
LEMMONS: I WOULD.
I THINK.
GATES: KASI'S TREPIDATION WAS UNDERSTANDABLE.
ALMOST ALL AFRICAN AMERICANS HAVE SOME DEGREE OF WHITE ANCESTRY.
AND THE PRINCIPLE SOURCE OF THIS MIXTURE WAS THE RAPE OF BLACK FEMALES BY WHITE MEN DURING SLAVERY, A FACT THAT IS AGONIZING TO CONTEMPLATE, NEVERTHELESS THERE'S VALUE TO KNOWING THE TRUTH, NO MATTER HOW PAINFUL.
SO WE PRESSED ON.
OUR GENETIC GENEALOGIST, CECE MOORE, COMPARED KASI'S DNA TO THAT OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN PUBLICLY AVAILABLE DATABASES, LOOKING FOR MATCHES.
SHE SOON IDENTIFIED A LARGE GROUP OF DISPARATE INDIVIDUALS WHO SHARE ENOUGH DNA WITH KASI TO BE HER THIRD OR FOURTH COUSINS.
AND THESE PEOPLE ALL HAD SOMETHING IN COMMON.
ALL THE MATCHES IN THE GROUP WERE OF EUROPEAN DESCENT.
AND ALL OF THE MATCHES HAVE FAMILY TREES THAT TRACED BACK TO ONE MAN.
YOU SEE HIM AT THE TOP?
CAN YOU READ THAT NAME AT THE TOP?
LEMMONS: JOSEPH ANDRESS.
GATES: JOSEPH ANDRESS.
LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT JOSEPH ANDRESS.
JOSEPH WAS BORN AROUND 1734, POSSIBLY IN ENGLAND.
BY 1790, HE HAD SETTLED IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
AND BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF DNA THAT YOU SHARE WITH HIS DESCENDANTS, HE IS EITHER YOUR THIRD OR YOUR FOURTH GREAT-GRANDFATHER AND WE KNOW THAT PURELY FROM DNA.
LEMMONS: WOW.
GATES: WE BELIEVE THAT YOUR GREAT-GRANDMOTHER, RACHEL, WAS FATHERED BY ONE OF JOSEPH'S DESCENDANTS, LIKELY A GRANDSON, AND AN AFRICAN AMERICAN MOTHER WHO WAS MOST LIKELY HIS SLAVE.
HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?
LEMMONS: IT'S PAINFUL BUT IT'S INTERESTING, I'M NOT SURPRISED.
GATES: BUT TO FIND HIS NAME.
LEMMONS: YEAH, NO.
CRAZY.
GATES: WITH THIS INFORMATION IN MIND, WE RETURNED TO THE PAPER TRAIL, WE KNEW THAT RACHEL WAS LIKELY BORN SOMETIME BETWEEN 1840 AND 1845 IN ALABAMA.
WHICH MEANS HER FATHER WOULD HAVE PROBABLY LIVED IN ALABAMA, TOO, AND IN THE 1870 CENSUS, THE SAME CENSUS WHERE WE SAW RACHEL, WE NOTICED THAT SHE LIVED IN VERY CLOSE PROXIMITY TO A MAN NAMED ISAAC ANDRESS AND ISAAC WAS A GRANDSON OF JOSEPH ANDRESS!
LEMMONS: "DWELLING IN THE ORDER OF VISITATION: 1408.
ISAAC ANDRESS, AGE: 74, WHITE, OCCUPATION: FARMER, BIRTHPLACE: SOUTH CAROLINA.
DWELLING IN THE ORDER OF VISITATION: 1410.
RACHEL ANDRESS, 25, MULATTO, BORN: ALABAMA.
ANNIS ANDRESS, 3 MONTHS, MULATTO, BORN: ALABAMA."
GATES: THEY LIVED NEXT DOOR TO EACH OTHER.
ONE AT 1408 AND ONE AT 1410.
ANDRESS, RACHEL.
NOW, YOU DON'T HAVE TO CALL SHERLOCK HOLMES UP IN HERE TO BEGIN TO FIGURE OUT THIS RELATIONSHIP.
HE WAS ROUGHLY 50 YEARS OLD WHEN RACHEL WAS BORN AND HE WAS LIVING JUST A FEW HOUSES AWAY FROM WHERE WE FIND RACHEL LIVING AFTER SLAVERY.
LEMMONS: THAT'S AMAZING.
THAT'S THROUGH DNA?
GATES: DNA AND THEN THE FACT THEY'RE LIVING NEXT DOOR TO EACH OTHER.
LEMMONS: RIGHT.
GATES: SO YOU FOUND YOUR WHITE FAMILY.
ALL AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO HAVE TAKEN DNA TESTS HAVE SOME WHITE ANCESTRY.
BUT OVERWHELMINGLY, THE IDENTITY OF THOSE WHITE ANCESTORS IS SHROUDED IN MYSTERY BUT NOT IN YOUR CASE.
YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR WHITE ANCESTRY CAME FROM.
LEMMONS: CERTAINLY, EVERY TIME I HEAR SOMEBODY NAMED ANDRESS I'M GOING TO BE SUSPICIOUS THEY'RE FAMILY.
GATES: KASI'S DNA REVEALS THAT SHE IS 47% EUROPEAN, SO SHE HAS MANY MORE WHITE ANCESTORS THAN THE ONES IN THE ANDRESS FAMILY, GIVING HER FURTHER CAUSE TO CONTEMPLATE THE ORIGIN OF THIS WHITE ANCESTRY AND THE TREATMENT OF HER ENSLAVED FEMALE ANCESTORS.
HER DNA HOWEVER, ALSO CONTAINS A HAPPY SURPRISE, WHEN WE COMPARED HER RESULTS TO THOSE OF OTHER PEOPLE WHOM WE'VE TESTED IN THIS SERIES, WE FOUND A SIGNIFICANT MATCH, EVIDENCE WITHIN HER OWN CHROMOSOMES OF A DISTANT COUSIN THAT SHE NEVER KNEW SHE HAD.
YOU READY TO MEET YOUR COUSIN?
LEMMONS: YES.
GATES: PLEASE TURN THE PAGE.
(LAUGHTER) LEMMONS: THAT'S HILARIOUS.
GATES: YOU AND KEVIN BACON SHARE AN IDENTICAL STRETCH OF DNA ON YOUR NINTH CHROMOSOME AND THAT MEANS THAT YOU TWO INHERITED THIS SHARED DNA FROM A DISTANT COMMON WHITE ANCESTOR SOMEWHERE IN YOUR FAMILY TREES AND WE KNOW IT HAD TO BE A WHITE PERSON BECAUSE KEVIN HAS NO AFRICAN DNA.
LEMMONS: THAT'S HILARIOUS.
OUR HISTORY IS SO INTERTWINED AND HERE WE ARE AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME WHERE THERE'S ALL THIS WEIRDNESS BUT YET OUR HISTORY IS SO INTERTWINED AND WE'RE SO DEPENDENT.
IT'S SO INTERCONNECTED AND WE INFORM EACH OTHER.
GATES: YEAH.
LEMMONS: YOU KNOW, WE INFORM EACH OTHER.
I FEEL SORRY FOR POOR KEVIN THAT HAS NO AFRICAN AMERICAN ANCESTRY.
GATES: I WAS NOW REACHING THE END OF MY JOURNEY WITH KASI AND PHARRELL, IT WAS TIME TO SHOW THEM THEIR FULL FAMILY TREES, FILLED WITH ANCESTORS WHOSE NAMES THEY'D NEVER HEARD BEFORE.
WILLIAMS: SOMEONE NAMED AMERICA.
SOMEONE NAMED NAPOLEON.
GATES: YEAH.
WILLIAMS: WOW.
LEMMONS: THIS IS AMAZING.
OH MY GOD, IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL.
IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL.
GATES: FOR EACH, IT WAS A MOMENT OF WONDER.
PROVIDING A CHANCE TO REFLECT ON THE IMMENSE AND UNUSUAL JOURNEY THAT THEIR ANCESTORS TOOK FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM.
HAS ANYTHING THAT YOU LEARNED TODAY CHANGED HOW YOU SEE YOURSELF?
LEMMONS: YEAH.
ABSOLUTELY.
IT'S CLARIFIED IT IN A BEAUTIFUL WAY, HONESTLY.
I FEEL VERY PROUD OF MY AMERICAN HERITAGE AND I'VE ALWAYS BEEN PROUD OF IT, BUT I DIDN'T KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT IT.
BUT NOW, TO HAVE ALL THIS INFORMATION AND THIS WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE AND THESE ROOTS.
I FEEL LIKE THESE ROOTS OF A TREE THAT SPREAD OUT AND GO IN BOTH DIRECTIONS.
AND IT FEELS, IT'S A BEAUTIFUL, ENRICHING FEELING THAT I CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE WITH MY FAMILY.
GATES: WHAT HAS THIS JOURNEY MEANT TO YOU?
WILLIAMS: IT HAS SET MY SOUL ABLAZE.
AS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN I THINK I ALWAYS FELT THESE THINGS ABOUT MYSELF.
THIS IS WHAT I ALWAYS RELATED TO I THINK BUT HAVING IT SPELLED OUT FOR ME DEFINITELY LIGHTS A DIFFERENT KIND OF FIRE.
GATES: DOES THIS KNOWLEDGE CHANGE THE WAY YOU FEEL ABOUT BEING AN AMERICAN?
WILLIAMS: AS I SAID TO YOU BEFORE, I LOVE AMERICA BASED ON ITS PROGRESSION BECAUSE THERE HAS BEEN SOME MOVEMENT IN PROGRESSION FOR THE OPPRESSED.
GATES: BIG TIME.
WILLIAMS: BUT NOT ENOUGH, YOU KNOW, AND THAT IS WHAT GIVES ME, YOU KNOW, KEEPS ME OPTIMISTIC THAT THERE IS POTENTIAL.
THERE'S UNTAPPED POTENTIAL THAT WE HAVEN'T HIT.
AND I STILL LOVE AMERICA.
I LOVE THAT CONCEPT.
BUT I REALLY DO FEEL LIKE WE'VE GOT A LOT OF WORK TO DO.
GATES: THAT'S THE END OF OUR SEARCH FOR THE ANCESTORS OF PHARRELL WILLIAMS AND KASI LEMMONS, PLEASE JOIN ME NEXT TIME WHEN WE UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF THE PAST FOR NEW GUESTS ON ANOTHER EPISODE OF "FINDING YOUR ROOTS".
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